Sunday, June 26, 2016

The French's penchant for specificity operates right down to folding crêpes, of which there are at least 12 distinct methods, each one as attractive as the other. The above sarrasin or buckwheat crêpe with mushrooms, served in a rickety hotel restaurant in the village of Giverny, is an example of le pli en chausson. The word chausson generally means house slipper, and is often translated as "turnover" when speaking, for example, of pastries. Here, the form truly brings to mind an old, roomy slipper. To learn more about the different techniques, which include the very simple pli en journal to the stylish crêpes aux aumônières, click here.

Saturday, June 25, 2016

For the record, I don't know about orange being, or having ever been, the new black, but we were enthralled by the degrees of intensity of color of these orangish roses and poppies at Monet's gardens in Giverny.

Thursday, June 23, 2016

Another rainy day in Monet's gardens at Giverny where sometimes the umbrellas rival the blossoms and foliage.

Expression

ouvrir le parapluie: literally "open the umbrella," this is a locution used familiarly when someone seeks to shelter himself from problems caused by others; the term is sometimes used pejoratively to describe the cowardly act of blame shifting

Thursday, June 16, 2016

We noticed some Euro 2016 pre-game excitement and flag-waving early yesterday evening on the streets of Versailles. The happy French folks and their dog in the car in front of us were evidently on their way to watch the France-Albania match on television. France, host of the European championship games, won 2-0. Twenty-four teams are participating in elimination matches; the final will be held on July 10.

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

When a past matter is no longer troubling or cannot be changed, French and English language speakers often use the same metaphor, de l'eau sous le pont. To illustrate this figure of speech, we're using the above photo of the remains of an old water mill in the Normandy town of Vernon. The mill, built on a medieval bridge on the Seine, was used to grind wheat. It no longer has its hanging stone. Although it was periodically rebuilt through the centuries, it originally dates to the late 1600's.

Monday, June 6, 2016

Grisaille is a word that can be used in a number of situations...from speaking about dullish gray weather to a style of bas-relief painting in shades of gray to obtain a three-dimensional effect. It's frequently used to describe Normandy skies, like that on the day of our visit to a charming small-town museum, le Musée Alphonse-Georges-Poulain. The museum, which is in Vernon, is largely dedicated to impressionist works of an American colony of artists who, following the footsteps of Monet, installed themselves in the nearby village of Giverny. The museum also has the distinction of being one of the few in France specializing in animal art. The pair of bronze equestrian sculptures, Chevaux Domptés, above, are the work of the New York native, Frederick McMonnies (1863-1937). MacMonnies worked in both Paris and Giverny.

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

We stopped along the roadside outside of Paimpol in French Brittany's Côte d'Armor to take a snapshot of a field of artichokes, but lo and behold this ultra-modern water tower captured our imaginations instead. The industrial land art is the work of renowned French architect Thierry Van de Wyngaert. To see the tower's magnificent nighttime illumination and for more information about Van de Wyngaert's work, click here.

French artichoke production is primarily in Brittany and the south of France, each region producing different varieties.